


The Bookshop Place (Part 2)

by Kass



Category: Good Omens (TV), The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22867615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kass/pseuds/Kass
Summary: "There was this bookshop," Chidi says. "I went there on my first-ever trip to London.
Relationships: Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop
Comments: 8
Kudos: 63
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	The Bookshop Place (Part 2)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thimblerig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thimblerig/gifts).



After her lesson Eleanor has lunch with Tahani at a beachside café. 

“I think the best thing about my windsurfing teacher is her totally ripped bod,” Eleanor says.

“Eleanor!” Tahani sounds scandalized.

“Look, I’m monogamous, not dead.”

“Technically,” Tahani says primly, “you’re both.” 

“I’ll cop to that. Another margarita?” 

They have another margarita, because it’s delicious, and because they can.

Tahani's been studying ikebana -- she just asked Janet to send her custom-designed welcome bouquets to everyone who's arriving this bearimy -- so she sends Eleanor home with an elegant arrangement of tropical orchids and some kind of tall grasses. The two kinds of plants shouldn't go together, but somehow they do.

Eleanor puts the flowers down on the kitchen island and makes her way to the outdoor study, which is Chidi's favorite place to spend his mornings. There are two plump leather couches (for which no actual animals needed to give their lives; everything here is ethically-sourced, because it comes from Janet.) Chidi's favorite volumes of philosophy line three of the walls, with a sliding library ladder to let him reach the ones on the highest shelves. And the fourth wall is open to the perfect seaside breeze. There's no need for a screen, because there are no mosquitoes here. Only hummingbirds and butterflies.

"What'cha reading, brainiac?" Eleanor plops down on the couch beside Chidi, who's engrossed in one of the new books Janet provided for him this morning.

"Refreshing my Arabic," Chidi says, wrinkling his nose. "Hebrew’s next on the list, but it’s slow going. Semitic languages have never been my strong suit."

"Nerd," Eleanor says fondly. She can feel the hearts in her eyes. Fortunately Chidi looks at her the same way.

"You like me that way."

"That self-confidence is still really working for me," Eleanor says, because it is. Chidi was hot when he was indecisive about whether to wear black socks or navy ones. He's so much hotter now that he trusts his instincts and just... does stuff.

Chidi grins. "I know."

Eleanor squeals with delight. "Look who thinks he's Han Solo!"

"Who?" Chidi says, pretending ignorance.

"Oh don't even." Eleanor mock-glares. "We watched that movie two bearimys ago."

"And I enjoyed it," Chidi agrees. "Even if the philosophical underpinnings are a little thin."

"Oh, come on. George Lucas totally had a Joseph Campbell thing going on."

"Look who's citing Joseph Campbell," Chidi teases.

"We're good for each other." It's among the top ten sappiest things Eleanor has ever said, but it's true. "And just to show you how mature I'm being, I didn't say the thing about us rubbing off on each other so I could make the obvious joke about rubbing off on each other."

"Except you kind of just did."

There's a gentle crackle of electricity in their flirtation. Eleanor loves it. And in this moment, she's content to just let the attraction spark between them. They have all the time in the world. She's not in a rush.

"So why are you refreshing your Arabic?" Eleanor changes the subject.

Chidi smiles but doesn't call her on it. "There's a book I want to read."

"There's always a book you want to read."

"It's one of my favorite ways to spend the afterlife," Chidi says, and then looks down for a moment, smiling to himself in the most shyly endearing way.

"One of your -- dude, are you blushing?" Eleanor's heart just keeps turning somersaults for this guy. It's the best thing. "Did you just rank sex with me as up there with learning new things?"

"Not just the sex," he protests, but he's laughing. "You know that. It's the... intimacy, and the -- being together."

"And the sex." Eleanor grins. "You can't fool me. Okay, tell me about the book before I jump your bones."

"There was this bookshop," Chidi says. "I went there on my first-ever trip to London. It was a rainy day. The store owner reminds me of Michael, actually, now that I think about it."

"Really," Eleanor says. "That's kind of weird."

"It is, isn't it."

"How did he remind you of Michael?"

"I mean, he was nice, and eccentric, but a lot of bookshop owners are eccentric." Chidi thinks about it for a minute. "I think it's that he seemed weirdly fascinated with humanity, somehow."

"Like, interested in us but not one of us? That does sound like Michael. Do you think he was an architect?"

"An architect gone rogue, living among humans?" Chidi smiles. "I doubt it, but I like the idea. Anyway, the first book I picked up in his shop was this first edition of the Guide to the Perplexed by Maimonides."

Imagining young Chidi in a bookshop makes Eleanor’s heart go even more fond. “You were pretty perplexed.”

“The thought has crossed my mind,” Chidi agrees dryly. “Anyway, it's a classic of medieval philosophy. The language is Hebrew but the script is Arabic." He looks wistful, remembering. "This was an impossibly rare first edition from around the year 1200: I couldn't possibly have afforded it, and my Judeo-Arabic was lousy anyway..."

"But now you have time to learn."

"I do. And when I'm ready, I'll ask Janet to bring me that book."

"Shall I leave you to it?" Eleanor asks lightly.

Chidi intertwines their fingers, and Eleanor thinks for the millionth time that she loves seeing their hands together. "You did say something about jumping my bones."

"I did," Eleanor agrees, happily. "And a girl's gotta keep her promises."

"The Arabic can wait," Chidi says, and as they stand up together, Eleanor's heart overflows, again.


End file.
